The Rittenhouse Review

A Philadelphia Journal of Politics, Finance, Ethics, and Culture


Tuesday, February 07, 2006  

IS ANYONE PAYING ATTENTION?
A Gaping E-mail Gap

Rosemary Woods, please call your office. Oh, wait, she's dead, but her spirit lives on in the Bush White House.

I caught this in "Will Scooter Libby Graymail the CIA?" a blog post about the possible defense strategy being pursued by former vice president chief of staff Scooter Libby written by The Nation's David Corn (February 6):

Last week, Ted Wells, one of Libby's attorneys, said that "thousand and thousands and thousands" of pages of evidence have been withheld by [special counsel Patrick] Fitzgerald. The special counsel disagreed. By the way, Fitzgerald recently sent a letter to Libby's defense team noting, "In an abundance of caution, we advise you that we have learned that not all e-mail of the Office of Vice President and the Executive Office of the President for certain time periods in 2003 was preserved through the normal archiving process on the White House computer system." Hmmmm. The White House has lost chunks of email from Cheney's and Bush's offices for 2003, the year Bush invaded Iraq, the year of the CIA leak. Must just be an accident, right?

According to a Google News search, only a smattering of news organizations have devoted any attention at all to this strange and mysterious event.

Media Matters for America, it turns out, was talking about this nearly a week ago, and in an item published today, again raises the question why this story continues to fly under the media’s collective radar.

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Monday, February 06, 2006  

PAINFUL
A Special Type of Gall

It was painful, that's really the only word, to read and hear today's media coverage of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales trying, without benefit of having been sworn beforehand, to defend before the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Bush administration's secret, and so obviously illegal, warrant-free domestic wiretapping program. (See, among many others, "Defense of Eavesdropping Is Met With Skepticism in Senate," by David Stout in the New York Times, and "Gonzales Defends Legality of Surveillance," by William Branigin in the Washington Post.)

There's some special type of gall at work when the attorney general asserted media accounts about the program have been "in almost every case, in one way or another, misinformed, confused or wrong," without explaining how so, and, best I can tell, not having been asked to explain how so.

Even more painful was hearing Republican senators falling all over themselves and each other to defend the White House and the Justice Department, with Sens. John Cronyn (Texas) and Orrin G. Hatch, happily taking the booby prizes.

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Thursday, February 02, 2006  

PLUMBING THE DEPTHS OF DECENCY
Ideas from the Truly Despicable

Surely by now you've heard of this disgrace, reported, among other places, in "Heroin Implants Turned Puppies Into Drug Mules, U.S. Says ," by Al Baker and William K. Rashbaum, in today's New York Times:

A Colombian drug trafficking organization was readying purebred puppies as drug couriers by surgically implanting large packets of liquid heroin into their bodies to ship them to the United States, federal officials said yesterday.

Ten puppies, including several Labrador retrievers, were discovered on a farm in a makeshift veterinary clinic in Medellín, Colombia, during a raid about a year ago, said John P. Gilbride, the special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's New York Field Division. He said surgical tools and a table for operations were found in the clinic. […]

"Throughout my 25-year career, this is one of the most outrageous methods of smuggling that I personally have encountered," Mr. Gilbride said.

A law enforcement official said the puppies were going to be presented as show dogs to get them past Customs inspectors at airports in the United States. In reality, their fate appeared grim.

Asked how the drugs would be extracted from the puppies, one law enforcement official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was continuing, said, "I don't think there was any real indication, but I don't think they were going to be real careful."

What shall we call this? A crime against caninity?

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SPOON FEEDING . . . AND COOKING
A Little Old Lady from South Philadelphia

In today's Philadelphia Inquirer, in an article, "'Silver Spoon' vs. Gold Standard," by Dianna Marder, Maria Fulginiti, a 70-year-old Italian American from South Philadelphia, takes on The Silver Spoon, the world-famous cookbook recently translated into English, and wins.

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Apologies, But More About Brokeback Mountain

From Brokeback Mountain producer James Schamus, reacting to talk that Academy Award best actor nominee Heath Ledger was "so brave" to take the role of Ennis Del Mar in that film:

To me, there are worse jobs than kissing Jake Gyllenhaal.

Well, yes. And better jobs, too. Like kissing Heath Ledger.

Meanwhile, if you can take any more commentary about Brokeback Mountain, you should spend a few minutes with "A Picture of Two Americas In 'Brokeback Mountain'," by Stephen Hunter in today's Washington Post.

Pull quote, one of just many worthy potential excerpts:

Finally, the inevitable tragedy and the realization by one man [Ed.: Del Mar] of what a misspent life he's had. How he should have to his own self been true; how happiness has evaded him forever. It's hard to argue that the movie constitutes any kind of threat, or pro-gay propaganda. For one thing, there's too much authentic pain in it, it's too bloody sad. The final image of the aloneness of the survivor is heartbreaking. He was never a crier, of course, but you know inside he's sobbing. The film shows, convincingly, that love comes from the heart, not the glands, and if the heart is engaged, the body follows.

There but for . . . Not really, but you know what I mean.

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Wednesday, February 01, 2006  

READ IT NOW
Sutton Impact

Ward Sutton's latest strip, "Dude, Where's My Party?", is excellent.

Sutton's comparison of the Democratic and Republican Parties is best `round about the middle, which I'll tease with the following:

Republicans: When they're in the wrong, they attack. Democrats: When they're in the right, they surrender.

Republicans: Promote their most outspoken and aggressive members. Democrats: Sabotage their most outspoken and aggressive members.

Republicans: Adept at making their unpopular positions appear "mainstream." Democrats: Adept at making their popular positions appear "loony."

Sutton's strips, by the way, may be read locally in the Philadelphia Weekly, though not, unless I'm missing something, on the paper's web site.

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BROKEBACK PAYBACK
Critics Continue to Respond

Brokeback Mountain garnered eight Academy Award nominations, and film historian and blogger David Ehrenstein is still talking about it, today in the Los Angeles Times, with "'Brokeback's' Tasteful Appeal."

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Monday, January 30, 2006  

DESIGNATED DRY DRUNK
The State of the Union

If you're drinking tomorrow night during the annual State of the Union address -- And who wouldn't be? -- here's a fun way to play along.

Based on a quick look at the rules of the game, I'd suggest you play at home or, if you are in public, only if you have a trusted designated driver.

(Thanks to Peter Baker of Drinking Liberally, Philadelphia, who, I can attest, drinks only responsibly, if ideologically.)

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REAL MONEY
A Billion Here, A Billion There

Net income at Exxon Mobil Corp. in 2005: $36.13 billion.

See also, "Exxon Mobil Posts Largest Annual Profit for U.S. Company," by John Holusha, the New York Times, in which we read:

The earnings come at a time of high gasoline and heating fuel prices that have prompted some political leaders to call for a windfall profits tax on oil companies. But the company said it was reinvesting in exploration and refining capacity to meet the world's need for energy.

Of course that argument would be more convincing if Exxon Mobil weren't paying almost half as much in dividends to shareholders as it is allocating to worldwide capital expenditures. (Note: The linked item doesn't make that point explicitly; you have to do the math yourself.)

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Standing Against Alito

Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-R.I.):

"I am a pro-choice, pro-environment, pro-Bill of Rights Republican, and I will be voting against this nomination."

Calling Senator Snowe.

Calling Senator Collins.

Calling Senator Specter. Oh, right. Never mind. Forget we asked. Forget we gave you money.

(See also, "Chafee Rolls Dice With 'No' on Alito," by Chris Cillizza, at The Fix.)

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Sunday, January 29, 2006  

QUICK SUNDAY FUN
Go Look!

Tom, of TBogg, has fun with Michelle Malkin, viz., "Brain-Damaged Girl Moves to Rehab Facility."

Malkin's an easy target, sure, but the post is pure, unadulterated TBogg genius, complete with photographic evidence.

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SKIPPING THIS ONE
A Valiant Effort, But Still Not Getting Us

Bernard-Henri Lévy has written a new book, a big book, an important book, a book with a ponderous title, American Vertigo: Traveling America in the Footsteps of Tocqueville, one I think I'll skip, based on several recent reviews, including today's notice by Garrison Keillor, of all people, in the New York Times Book Review.

Pull quote:

[E]very 10 pages or so, Lévy walks into a wall. About Old Glory, for example. Someone has told him about the rules for proper handling of the flag, and from these (the flag must not be allowed to touch the ground, must be disposed of by burning) he has invented an American flag fetish, a national obsession, a cult of flag worship. Somebody forgot to tell him that to those of us not currently enrolled in the Boy Scouts, these rules aren't a big part of everyday life. He blows a radiator writing about baseball -- "this sport that contributes to establishing people's identities and that has truly become part of their civic and patriotic religion, which is baseball" -- and when, visiting Cooperstown ("this new Nazareth"), he finds out that Commissioner Bud Selig once laid a wreath at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington, where Abner Doubleday is also buried, Lévy goes out of his mind. An event important only to Selig and his immediate family becomes, to Lévy, an official proclamation "before the eyes of America and the world" of Abner as "the pope of the national religion . . . that day not just the town but the entire United States joined in a celebration that had the twofold merit of associating the national pastime with the traditional rural values that Fenimore Cooper's town embodies and also with the patriotic grandeur that the name Doubleday bears." Uh, actually not. Negatory on "pope" and "national" and "entire" and "most" and "embodies" and "Doubleday."

Talk about missing the whole point of the entire thing. Lévy, I mean, not Keillor, which is saying a lot, because Keillor misses a lot.

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WOODRUFF BADLY INJURED NEAR BAGHDAD
Hitting Home

Bob Woodruff, one of two new co-anchors of ABC’s “World News Tonight,” and his cameraman, Doug Vogt, were seriously injured earlier today by a roadside bomb near Baghdad.

Woodruff is, of course, a fairly new face to most viewers of the evening news, but still, an injury like this one, apparently quite serious, is sure to affect viewers far more seriously or more intently, like it or not, than other reports of violence against American civilians in the region.

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Thursday, January 26, 2006  

DAMN DOG!
Damn Good Book!

It's great to see a deserving book, one so terrific and entertaining as Marley & Me: Life and Love With the World's Worst Dog by John Grogan, garner not only rave reviews upon publication (including from Janet Maslin) and strong sales (it's currently number-two on the New York Times non-fiction best-seller list), but also continued general-interest media coverage some two months after it hit the stores.

For evidence of the latter effect, see "Belatedly, a Bad Dog Finds His Forte: Selling Books," by Dinitia Smith in today's Times; "The World's Worst Dog," from the Associated Press, as carried on CNN.com; and "Dog's Tale Unleashes Canine Passion," by Amy S. Rosenberg in the Philadelphia Inquirer (January 15).

I only recently moved Marley & Me from the "Current Reading" section to the "Recent Reading" area of the sidebar at right, that despite having finished the book just two days after I received a review copy in the mail.

It wasn't because I didn't enjoy the book. I absolutely did and I have recommended it widely, and at this site pegged it with a four-star ("very highly recommended") rating, richly deserved.

I've never been particularly good at writing book reviews, though I know I should try harder, and I wondered whether I could produce a notice that came even close to corresponding to Grogan's own cleverness and skill. So I'll just tell you what I told John: That's a damn good book.

[Post-publication addendum (January 27): Michael Klein reports in today's Philadelphia Inquirer ("Best-selling 'Marley & Me' is Heading to the Big Screen"): "Marley & Me, Inquirer columnist John Grogan's best-selling tale about his sweet but goofy Labrador retriever, is in line to become a film. . . . Terms were not disclosed, but the deal was 'substantial,' Grogan said. . . . Grogan, who plans to keep his day job, said Fox won out in bidding over 'another major studio,' which he declined to identify."]

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Wednesday, January 25, 2006  

A LAW OF PHYSICS
When Paper is Shredded, It Only Makes a Pile

Could the incredibly shrinking Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News get any smaller? Apparently top executives at parent company Knight Ridder Inc. think so. Peter Carey reports in today’s San Jose Mercury News, also a Knight Ridder paper (“Cut Labor, Paper Costs to Lift Profit, KR Tells Bidders”):

Knight Ridder is telling prospective buyers that its profits can be sharply increased by cutting jobs and benefits and reducing the size of some of its 32 newspapers. [...]

The figures Knight Ridder is giving potential buyers are similar to those in a Morgan Stanley research report published in November. The report, by analyst Douglas Arthur, said an outside buyer could reduce costs by $150 million a year through a 5 percent reduction in the workforce, cutting labor costs and chopping corporate overhead.

The company’s projections were reported in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday and not disputed by Knight Ridder. According to the projections, a buyer could increase Knight Ridder’s earnings by about 20 percent over 2004 earnings in the next 18 months by cutting jobs and benefits, streamlining operations and reducing the size of some of its 32 newspapers.

The Journal reported that two people familiar with the matter described the forecasts as overly optimistic.

It’s difficult to disagree with that last statement, if by overly optimistic one is referring to the ability of thinly staffed newspapers, in this city and elsewhere, to maintain a respectable level of paying readership.

I wonder who was the original genius who determined that newspapers, a healthier business than many realize, should start gutting their way to oblivion?

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THE WHITE HOUSE NEEDS BLEACH
Time to Come Clean on Abramoff

The Washington Post today published a thoughtful editorial about the White House’s response to reporters’ inquiries about admitted felon Jack Abramoff was doing, or trying to do, during his meetings with administration staff members.

In a retort to Scott McClellan’s stonewalling, expressed thusly, “If you’ve got some specific issue that you need to bring to my attention, fine. But what we’re not going to do is engage in a fishing expedition that has nothing to do with the investigation,” the editors write (“Mr. Abramoff’s Meetings”):

This is not a tenable position. It’s undisputed that Mr. Abramoff tried to use his influence, and his restaurant and his skyboxes and his chartered jets, to sway lawmakers and their staffs. Information uncovered by Mr. Bush’s own Justice Department shows that Mr. Abramoff tried to do the same inside the executive branch.

Under these circumstances, asking about Mr. Abramoff’s White House meetings is no mere exercise in reportorial curiosity but a legitimate inquiry about what an admitted felon might have been seeking at the highest levels of government. Whatever White House officials did or didn’t do, there is every reason to believe that Mr. Abramoff was up to no good and therefore every reason the public ought to know with whom he was meeting.

It’s hard to believe details about Abramoff’s White House meetings will not become public at some point, and for all we know now, it was all in a lobbyist’s day’s work. Still, you’ve got to wonder what’s being held back, and why, while at the same time enjoying the discomfort of the likes of McClellan.

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Tuesday, January 24, 2006  

SOMETIMES IT TAKES THE A.P.
Coverage of Pennsylvania Senate Primary

Many astute newspaper readers, including me, gripe about the reliance of their hometown newspaper, in my case, the incredibly shrinking Philadelphia Inquirer, on copy from the Associated Press. But, hey, sometimes the wire reporters are doing a better job than, or at least filling the voids created by, the paper’s slim staffing or institutional bias.

To wit: “[Two] Hopefuls Appeal to Face Santorum,” by the A.P.’s Marc Levy, published today by, yes, the Inquirer, from which we learn that Bob Casey Jr. skipped a debate in Harrisburg sponsored by the League of Women Voters, leaving Chuck Pennacchio and Alan Sandals to carry on by themselves the noble tradition of democracy, so well established centuries ago in this very city.

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Sunday, January 22, 2006  

JUST ADDED
A Few Film Recommendations

I rarely go to the movies, and as such I’d like to think I’m particularly selective about which films I decide to see. (Or perhaps I just don’t get asked out very much.)

I can count just three viewings since late summer, and my ratings of each of these three movies, with stars assigned from one to five of a possible, and rare, five stars, each and all of which I added only this evening to the sidebar at right under the heading, “Recent Viewing: Film,” as follows, in reverse chronological order as I saw them in the theater:

Memoirs of a Geisha: Recommended: Two Stars.

Brokeback Mountain: Very Highly Recommended.: Four Stars.

March of the Penguins: Very Highly Recommended: Four Stars.

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TV NEWS
The Good and The Bad

News from NBC, according to the New York Times: At the end of this television season, no more “Will & Grace.”

That’s the good news.

But, at the same time, we learn: No more “West Wing,” and that, obviously, is the bad news.

[Post-publication addendum (January 25): See also “Will & Disgrace,” by Wayne Besen, at WayneBesen.com (January 24).]

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OH, ANDY!
We So Badly Want to Know Ye

There are few things more frustrating as a sports fan than being, or trying to be, an avid acolyte of Andy Roddick, as I am, a condition John Pye, of the Associated Press, explains in “Another Major, Another Early Exit for Roddick,” regarding Roddick’s premature exit from the Australian Open.

All too frustrating. What’s the deal with this guy? Am I just tilting at windmills with my support for Roddick, expecting the best from him?

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SURGERY FOR JENNIFER ANYANGO
Ugandan Girl Treated in Virginia

Carolyn Davis, a member of the editorial board of the Philadelphia Inquirer who long has championed the cause, today provides an update on the donated surgical treatment being provided to Jennifer Anyango, the Ugandan girl viciously disfigured six years ago during an attack by rebels on her family’s village and home (about which I blogged briefly here last year: “About Uganda: A Sewing Machine is All,” May 11, 2005; and “Getting Back to Jennifer Anyango: She’s Not Forgotton,” May 22, 2005).

Anyango is being treated at Fairfax Hospital, Fairfax, Va.:

About four hours after they began, the doctors are finished. Much of what they have done is preparation for a more dramatic operation after there is enough new skin to move down Jennifer’s hairline and reconstruct parts of her face. But even the immediate result pleases [her guardian Abitimo] Odongkara and should make Jennifer smile after she awakens, despite the postsurgery pain. [Dr. Craig] Dufresne has been able to pull down some skin near Jennifer’s eyes by making small incisions and tightening ligaments. In what seems like only a few moments, he has enabled Jennifer’s eyelids to close over most of her eyes -- for the first time in six years.

There’s a long way yet to go, but this sounds like a promising start.

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Saturday, January 21, 2006  

SPIKOL TROUBLE
A New and Promising Philadelphia Blog

Daniel Rubin, the Philadelphia Inquirer reporter who blogs at blinq, today introduces to the paper’s readers a new Philadelphia-based weblog, The Trouble With Spikol, produced by Philadelphia Weekly columnist Liz Spikol, that will focus on mental health issues.

Welcome to the fray, Liz.

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Friday, January 20, 2006  

NOT SO FAST
Let Voters Choose Their Own Candidate

There’s an excellent letter to the editor in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer, of particular interest to those following the campaign to eject incumbent Republican senator Rick Santorum, submitted by Dave De Vetter of Willow Grove, Pa.

De Vetter writes, in part:

In November, the majority of Pennsylvanians who believe this war was not justified are expected to choose between two candidates who think we are wrong. The loved ones of the more than 2,200 American soldiers killed in Bush’s preemptive war in Iraq do not need the media to remind them this war was a mistake. Nor do the families of the tens of thousands of dead Iraqi civilians.

Democrats need to know that we have a clear choice to make in the May 16 primary. We can choose Chuck Pennacchio [Link added.], who opposed the war from the start and now supports a timeline for a quick and orderly withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. Or we can let [Bob] Casey take the nomination and lose after voters find out that he agrees with Santorum on just about everything.

De Vetter’s right. It’s a primary, not an investiture. Let’s have our say; make sure you have your say.

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Thursday, January 12, 2006  

BEHAVE!
Italian Labor to Lay Low During Turin Olympics

Sometimes the briefest item in the paper says more than an entire article can accomplish.

From an aside I caught in inside the sports pages of today’s Philadelphia Inquirer:

A nationwide strike truce was signed by Italian unions yesterday for the period covering the Turin Olympics. . . . All major Italian unions signed the accord.

No specifics were offered regarding how this feat was accomplished, nor the likelihood of all participants to abide by the deal, but the news really has to be a big load off the minds of the games’ organizers, to say nothing of the Italian government and tourism officials. Oh, and the athletes, too. Yeah, them.

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Wednesday, January 04, 2006  

DO YOU HEAR VIOLINS?
Abramoff’s Heart-felt (?) Apology

I tried not to laugh, even to smirk, when I heard yesterday and then read in the papers today, the apology offered to the court by guilty-pleading Criminal-Republican-Lobbyist Jack Abramoff (see “Lobbyist’s Guilty Plea Rocks D.C.” in the Philadelphia Inquirer and “Abramoff Pleads Guilty to 3 Counts” in the Washington Post):

Your honor, words will not be able to ever express how sorry I am for this, and I have profound regret and sorrow for the multitude of mistakes and harm I have caused. I only hope that I can merit forgiveness from the Almighty and from those I have wronged or caused to suffer. I will work hard to earn that redemption.

How much, really, does Abramoff regret the high-flying lifestyle he has led for so long? Who really believes this nonsense?

Regardless, there can be few of sound mind who are not pleased by the prospect of Abramoff working hard to earn the redemption of his God while he -- Abramoff, not God -- is pounding out license plates for more than a handful of years.

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Tuesday, January 03, 2006  

OH, THIS IS GOING TO BE GOOD
And I Was Worried 2006 Might Be Dull

The day’s top story: Criminal-Republican-Lobbyist Jack Abramoff today pleaded guilty to three felonies and is promising both to cooperate with prosecutors investigating corruption in Congress and to testify against what the media are euphemistically calling his “former colleagues.”

Enjoy, everyone, every moment; it doesn’t get much better than this.

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OTHER THAN THAT, MR. EHRENSTEIN . . .
How Did You Enjoy the Film?

David Ehrenstein, film historian, writer, and blogger, offers his take on Brokeback Mountain in “Horsefeathers,” published in the January 5 issue of the L.A. Weekly.

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Sunday, January 01, 2006  

IMPEACH BUSH
How Many Lies Will It Take?
Time for the Constitutional Clock to Start Ticking

From today’s New York Times (“Bush Defends Legality of Domestic Spy Program,” by Eric Lichtblau), arises the question: How many lies will it take before the American people will say they’ve had enough, we no longer will be fooled, we won’t play along any longer, and that this is the line in the sand:

As President Bush continued to defend the program at his appearance in San Antonio, he was asked about a remark he made in Buffalo in 2004 at an appearance in support of the Patriot Act, in which he discussed government wiretaps.

“Any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap,” Mr. Bush said at the appearance, “a wiretap requires a court order.” He added: “Nothing has changed, by the way. When we’re talking about chasing down terrorists, we’re talking about getting a court order before we do so.”

This isn’t “leadership,” this isn’t “strength,” nor is it “determination” in the face of adversity. This isn’t “courage,” nor is it “boldness.” This is desperation.

Worse, these are lies, pure and simple, and simple-minded dishonesty of the lowest form whatsoever displayed by any occupant of the Oval Office since Richard Nixon, and bald-faced lies at that, repeated over and over again, with no hesitation, regret, nor apology, lies that fly in the face of -- that mock with no shame at all -- the Constitution of these, the United States of America.

Enough, already. It’s time to start working toward this man’s impeachment.

It’s as simple, and as sad, as that.

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Thursday, December 29, 2005  

THE BIDS ARE IN . . .
And the Bets are On

Today’s papers report -- “Placing Their Bets,” by Suzette Parmley in the Philadelphia Inquirer and “Five Investor Groups Apply for City Casino Licenses,” by Chris Brennan in the Philadelphia Daily News -- that at least five companies will vie for the two available permits for slots parlor operations in Philadelphia, a group that includes some of the usual suspects -- separately, Donald Trump and Foxwoods -- and a few surprises, including an entity calling itself Sugar House Gaming.

Just one question: Any, um, bets how many years the two eventual “winners” in Philadelphia, along with their companions running similar enterprises of state-sponsored theft around this state, will “endure,” under what they no doubt will call “great hardship,” before they start complaining -- and lobbying to the effect that -- they aren’t making, and that they won’t and they just can’t make enough money from slot machines alone, and therefore that they have to, they just must, be allowed to install the full gamut of casino table games in order to earn a decent profit, this ill-defined number cast as a “reasonable return” to “stakeholders,” and a figure I’m sure they will aver is needed to “remain competitive with other ‘gaming’ alternatives in the region,” the region in question extending from Atlantic City, N.J., all the way to Connecticut, north, and Mississippi, south, if not to Nevada, west, and beyond?

I’m giving it two years, tops.

Mark my words now: This has been, is, will be, and will have been a huge mistake from the get-go, one we will regret for decades to come.

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Sunday, December 18, 2005  

LIMITED BLOGGING AHEAD
That Time of Year

It’s difficult at any time of year to supply this blog with fresh and frequent commentary, and all the more so in late December. And so, in order to take a little of the pressure off, I’ll say now that posting likely will be infrequent, even erratic, until the new year. Enjoy the best of the season.

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TOO MANY IN TOO LITTLE TIME
Some of the Good Guys Gone

Obituaries from the New York Times:

Jack Anderson.

William Proxmire.

John Spencer.

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Saturday, December 17, 2005  

A GRAPHIC DISPLAY
Dubious Ethics, Worse Teeth

Sadly, you cannot see the image online, and so instead pick up a copy of the December 26 issue of The Nation in order not to miss “The Torture Administration,” by Anthony Lewis -- Still going strong at, what, eighty-something? -- and particularly the accompanying graphic by Eric Baker, a mélange of images of President Disregard the Constitution and All Sorts of Laws and Vice President Not-So-Great Teeth and a Quivering, Misformed Lower Lip Besides.

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Tuesday, December 13, 2005  

NOTED IN PASSING
One From the Good Old Guard

Eugene McCarthy, Washington, D.C.: former Minnesota congressman and senator, presidential aspirant, and author, 1916-2005:

A sampling of obituaries honoring McCarthy:

New York Times.

Washington Post.

Los Angeles Times.

Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

St. Paul Pioneer Press.

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Monday, December 12, 2005  

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
The Most Looked-Up Word of 2005

I won’t tell you what word Merriam-Webster reports was looked up at its web site more often than any other in 2005, I’ll just give you that dictionary’s definition:

1 : firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values : incorruptibility

2 : an unimpaired condition : soundness

3 : the quality or state of being complete or undivided : completeness

synonym see honesty

Adam Gorlick, writing for the Associated Press, explores the significance of the popularity of this word in this particular year.

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Sunday, December 11, 2005  

THAT ONE HIT ME HARD
Getting Older

A New York Times business reporter I respected greatly, Constance L. Hays, recently passed away, as noted here yesterday.

I saw her obituary in the back pages of the Philadelphia Inquirer, before I saw the same piece in the Times. I was shocked and saddened to read the news.

I always think almost everyone is older than I am. I am particularly prone to thinking so when it comes to talented writers, a group writ large the membership in which Hays so deservedly earned her highest position. Hays, though, was roughly my age, and I didn’t know that until she expired, a too-early decease stemming from what is called cancer.

I don’t know why I’m writing this right now, except to say that for years I knew and appreciated Hays to be, and for being, an exceptional reporter, smart and fair and all that, and with I being a tough audience, I was all the more impressed by her work, particularly when Hays was assigned to cover the trials of Martha Stewart, a woman greatly respected around these parts, and had that endeavor been assigned to a lesser talent, well, you would have heard an awful lot from me.

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Saturday, December 10, 2005  

NOTED IN PASSING
Two New Yorkers

Constance L. Hays: the excellent New York Times business reporter and author (The Real Thing: Truth and Power at the Coca-Cola Company), 1961[!]-2005.

Kalman Ruttenstein: fashion director of Bloomingdale’s and former president of Bonwit Teller, 1936-2005.

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SENATOR LIEBERMAN’S DISCONTENT
Our Next Secretary of Defense? Or Just Another Republican Back-Bencher?

It’s not just me, a fact that doesn’t surprise. There are plenty of Democrats disappointed with Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) and his unremitting support for the White House and its failed war on Iraq, and it’s all over today’s papers.

In “Lieberman’s Iraq Stance Brings Widening Split With His Party,” New York Times reporters Raymond Hernandez and William Yardley write:

Five years after running as the vice-presidential nominee on the Democratic ticket and a year after his own presidential bid, . . . Lieberman . . . has become an increasingly unwelcome figure within his party, with some Democrats seeing him more as a wayward son than a favorite son.

They report Sen. Lieberman is held in low regard by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), and note a possible challenge from former governor and senator Lowell P. Weicker Jr., discussed earlier this week. And there’s more:

Mr. Lieberman faces trouble in other quarters in his home state. Although few elected Democrats would criticize him publicly, several Democratic activists promised retaliation at the polls.

James H. Dean, brother of Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, lives in Connecticut and heads Democracy for America, a group that is gathering signatures on the Internet for a letter that criticizes the senator.

An aide to James Dean said he and others from the group would deliver the letter to Mr. Lieberman’s office in Hartford on Tuesday. The aide said the letter had 30,000 signatures.

Other Democratic activists warned that they might try to organize a primary challenge against Mr. Lieberman, specifically because of his position on the war.

Tom Matzzie, the Washington director for MoveOn.org, a liberal advocacy group with 10,000 members in Connecticut, said it would consider a challenge if the right candidate came along.

Meanwhile, in today’s Washington Post, Shailagh Murray makes the same points in “Lieberman Wins Republican Friends, Democratic Enemies With Support for War,” and adds:

The administration, on the other hand, can’t stop gushing over Lieberman. Vice President [Dick] Cheney called him “a fine U.S. senator,” and Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman contrasted him with his “retreat and defeat” Democratic colleagues. White House spokesman Scott McClellan cited Lieberman, the Democrats’ 2000 vice presidential nominee, as an exception in a party otherwise “trying to score political points off the situation.”

There have even been rumors that Lieberman is being considered as a replacement for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, if the embattled Pentagon boss retires. Lieberman dismisses the speculation as a “Washington fantasy.” But he caused tongues to wag when he had breakfast with Rumsfeld at the Pentagon on Thursday.

The question seems to be turning toward motives: Is Sen. Lieberman pursuing what’s best for the country, the party, or himself?

I’d be pleased to see Sen. Lieberman go to the Pentagon. It’s a better place for him -- a better place for us to have him -- than the U.S. Senate.

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Teri Garr

Teri Garr, actress, frequent crossword puzzle answer, and author, most recently of Speedbumps: Flooring It Through Hollywood, on her book and living with multiple sclerosis, speaking on the weekend edition of Fresh Air with Terry Gross:

I was going to call this book, Does This Wheelchair Make Me Look Fat?

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Friday, December 09, 2005  

GRATUITOUS BULLDOG BLOGGING
Usually on Thursday, This Week on Friday

A little bit more about my bulldog.

Below are the Top-Ten Nicknames for Mildred, in ascending order of daily usage in and around this household:

10. Madame Massive Snoozer.

9. The Drool Machine.

8. Miss No Tail.

7. You Crazy Greenie Hog.

6. You Big Girl.

5. Mildie.

4. Mildud.

3. Pookey Pot.

2. Pookey.

And, Number One, my most favored, most often used, most often relied upon nickname:

1. Bunny.

By way of background, and to prevent some really uncomfortable interchanges should we ever meet on the street, anywhere: Under no circumstances whatsoever shall Mildred be referred to as “Millie,” the name the parents of the current occupant -- and I mean that -- of the White House gave to one of their ugly mutts.

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CATCH THE SHOW
If Not, Listen to Radio Times Tonight

This morning I caught Marty Moss-Coane’s excellent program Radio Times on WHYY Radio (Philadelphia, 90.9 FM), the second hour of which was devoted to discussing and, what the heck, let’s just say so, promoting, Double Down, this season’s holiday offering from Philadelphia’s 1812 Productions, featuring Scott Greer and Tony Braithwaite.

I haven’t seen Double Down, but Green and Braithwaite were hilarious on Moss-Coane’s program. And Marty did quite well herself playing a nurse in a skit the three performed on air.

I hear from WHYY promos this evening that the station will rebroadcast this segment at 11:00 p.m. tonight.

You should make a point of catching the program, and if you can, seeing the show at the Adrienne Theatre, and maybe buying me a ticket.

(I was just kidding about that ticket part.)

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Thursday, December 08, 2005  

SEN. FEINGOLD GETS ACTIVE
The Greenest of Grassroots Activity

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) this week launched “an internet event” he’s calling “Pick a Progressive Patriot,” an online vote that will determine to whom the senator will next offer financial support though his political action committee, the Progressive Patriots Fund.

Based upon a list of nominees suggested from web readers, Sen. Feingold has selected 11 challengers to incumbent lawmakers, and the candidate who receives the most votes by midnight December 14 will receive a $5,000 contribution from the PPF.

The competitors include: Francine Busby (Calif., 50th District), Chris Carney (Pa., 10th), John Courage (Texas, 21st), Brad Ellsworth (Indiana, 8th), Nick Lampson (Texas, 22nd), Patricia Madrid (N.M., 1st), Lois Murphy (Pa., 6th), Coleen Rowley (Minn., 2nd), Heath Shuler (N.C., 11th), Tim Walz (Minn., First), and Peter Welch (Vt., At-large).

Don’t just sit here, go over to the PPF home page and cast your vote to “Pick [Your] Progressive Patriot.”

And don’t let the fact that I voted for Lois Murphy to sway you in any way.

I’m sure they’re all worthy.

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Saturday, December 03, 2005  

KIDS & DRUGS
Their Parents’ Drugs and Their Own

Two more disturbing reports in the news today and about kids -- including really young kids -- and drugs, more often than not drugs not their own:

Daycare workers yesterday found 11 packets of crack cocaine in the pockets of a two-year-old Philadelphia boy, and, separately and later in the day, two more boys, ages seven and eight, were found with what was suspected to be cocaine at the city’s Elkins Elementary School.

In case you’re not keeping track at home, these latest incidents come just a month after eight bags of heroin were found in a kindergartner’s pockets at Philadelphia’s Richmond Elementary School. Parents, guardians, or nearby adults are presumed to be to blame in each incident.

For more, see “Show and Tell: Children Lead Police to Drugs,” by Barbara Boyer and Stephanie L. Arnold in the Philadelphia Inquirer and “2-year-old Brings Crack to Day Care,” by Simone Weichselbaum in the Philadelphia Daily News.

Meanwhile, across the river in upscale Moorestown, N.J., a high-school student was charged with trying to build a methamphetamine lab in her parents’ home. Her mother called authorities after noticing a strange odor in the house, the Inquirer reports.

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Wednesday, November 30, 2005  

KIDS TODAY
In Fishtown, Philadelphia

Whenever I think I can no longer be shocked, especially by young children, it happens again.

And so, again, I’m shocked.

As you know, I live in the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia, a traditionally Irish and Polish working-class area just northeast of Center City that is currently making the transition -- so they tell me -- to the next hot, hip, and trendy spot in the nation’s fifth-largest city.

Perhaps. I remain to be convinced, especially when I walk about nearby streets and am forced to interact with what can be called, charitably at best, the local color, and what I’m more inclined to characterize more simply as the neighborhood’s white trash.

Case in point, with an eye toward the aforementioned kids: There’s a little boy who scampers about who I take to be around eight years old. He’s a cute kid; reasonably well dressed and groomed, by which I mean, and if you lived around here you would catch my drift quickly, he looks clean, and that’s pretty good, all things considered.

I last saw him Sunday evening when I took my dog Mildred out for a post-dinner walk, during which the following conversation ensued:

Local Boy: Hey, mister, you know what I’m doing?

Grouchy Old Man [That’s me.]: Looks like you’re stupidly skateboarding in the middle of the street.

Local Boy: No, I’m waiting for a girl. And when she comes by I’m going to get a piece of her.

Grouchy Old Man: That’s not nice! You know boys don’t hit girls.

Local Boy: I’m not going to hit her. I’m going to [expletive deleted] her!

Grouchy Old Man: Whoa! Well, that’s not nice either. Don’t even think of it! And don’t ever say anything like that again!

Eight years old!

Well, he was having none of my remonstrations, about which I cannot call myself surprised.

But then, get this, he, said “local boy,” threw a ball at me, a ball that hit Mildred!

It wasn’t much of a ball, just a soft rubber ball, but he did it on purpose, and maliciously, and I know this because it’s the second time in a month this little urchin threw something at me. The last time it was a portion of a smashed pumpkin he and a few other pieces of crap broke in front of a neighbor’s house on the night before Halloween.

The incident -- the ball throwing, not the pumpkin-piece tossing -- set me off. Not insanely, I assure you. I was just disgusted. I turned around and marched toward him and glared at him and scowled and shouted, “If you ever throw anything at my dog again, if you as much look at her the wrong way, you’ll be in more trouble than you’ve ever heard of in your life!”

Scared him?

Oh yeah.

Scared me?

That too.

Knowing this crazy neighborhood, this mannerless and misbegotten child is probably being raised by an unemployed nut who’s been on a bender since the Eagles lost. To Denver. Not exactly the type of dad, or mom, who will thank me for keeping the stupid kid in line.

I’ve got to watch my back.

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I HATE AL GORE
Not Just Because . . . But Because of Lieberman

It goes without saying that I admire and respect, greatly, former Sen. Al Gore, the Tennessee lawmaker who five years ago carried the Democratic Party’s torch toward its rightful position in the White House.

The man was pilloried and crucified by the media, and later cheated by what’s called “the judiciary,” reaching even as high as the Supreme [sic] Court, and yet maintained incredible, almost unbearable, dignity despite such unwarranted humiliation and unfairness.

And yet, with increasing frequency, I hate Al Gore, or at least resent him, or perhaps regret his misguidedness, that for having elevated an obscure and constantly vacillating little lawmaker from a small and generally insignificant state, the untrustworthy cretin otherwise known as Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) , pet and pal of the widely discredited faction known as the “Democratic” “Leadership” Council, toady of the insurance and medical industries, and all-around friend and slavish patron of the in loco Republicantis backstage directors of American foreign policy, typified most crazedly by the likes of the New Republic’s Martin Peretz, an ardent and unapologetic Liebermanite.

Enough with this guy -- Lieberman -- and his Gigot-edited and Gigot-approved op-eds on the fringista pages of The Wall Street Journal. Sadly, it was Sen. Gore, with the help of the likes of Peretz, who transformed Sen. Lieberman from a nobody into the supposed statesman and ersatz Senator Fulbright all too many today imagine him to be.

But is anyone really listening? Anyone, that is, except those of us concerned that this F.O.D. -- Friend of Don [Rumsfeld] -- might, assuming an equal party distribution in the Senate, opportunistically jump ship to the War Party?

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“MAN HANDS?”
Calling Beth Gillin

Imaginary -- perhaps -- overheard remark:

Impatient Inquirer Assignment Editor:“Has she got ‘man hands’? . . . Yeah? . . . She does? . . . Okay. Let’s see if Beth Gillin has some time. . . . She usually handles that kind of thing for us.”

The evidence:

July 10, 2002: Ann Coulter.

March 27, 2004: Brini Maxwell.

November 29, 2005: Tammy Bruce.

It’s all in fun, and we’re going to miss you, Beth.

[Post-publication addendum (December 3): Gillin, freshly retired from the Inquirer, has launched a blog, Exteme Senior, to be written with her tiny, delicate hands, they directed by a very talented, insightful, and, um, experienced mind.]

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Tuesday, November 29, 2005  

A FRIEND WRITES
College Application Fees

A friend writes that her son has submitted his applications to three campuses of the University of California system.

The application fees totaled $180, or $60 per campus.

Sixty bucks? That’s not so bad, I thought.

That’s not much more than what I paid, each, to apply to Hamilton and Rochester.

Then again, that was twenty-something years ago.

Of course, at the time, the fee to apply to Albany and Binghamton was, like, six dollars: each, or for both, or for as many as you wanted, or something like that.

And I think they accepted coins.

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NO MORE GAY PRIESTS
What is to be Done?

It’s official now: There are to be no gay priests, or no more gay priests, or no new gay priests, or no new honest gay priests, or something, who knows exactly what right now.

What is to be done for, or within, the Church?

I’m not sure I really care at this moment.

And what for, or within, me?

Selfishly or egotistically, that is, at this moment, for me, the larger question.

But as I asked a friend not long ago, in response to his inquiry demanding I account for my adherence to Catholicism, the religion in which I, my family, my parents, their parents, and their parents, and beyond -- my family, my people -- were raised and reared, “What am I supposed to do? Become a Methodist?”

No offense intented, and that’s not exactly an apt question, given that sect’s own problems with modernity and its affect on the ministry.

Perhaps I meant, “What am I supposed to do? Become a United Church of Christer?”

Maybe, but it just seems so unsatisfying. Most important, because it seems theologically and intellectually inferior, and, well, because it just doesn’t roll off the tongue so very well.

Or is it time to dust off my not-all-that-dusty copy of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures?

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Sunday, November 27, 2005  

TOO EASY
Michael D. Brown L.L.C.

Redefining the term shameless for now and all eternity, former Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown is launching a disaster-preparedness consulting firm in his own name.

This is too easy a target and everyone already has had at it, so I’ll just direct you to the cutest of the self-serving and delusional quotes the Associated Press pulled from Brown:

My wife, children and my grandchild still love me. My parents are still proud of me.

In large measure because they are able to sleep in their own beds at night.

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WOUND TOO TIGHTLY
Parents . . . And Their Kids’ Toys

It isn’t just holiday shoppers who are wound too tightly, it’s the gifts themselves as well, especially toys, reports Jeff Gammage in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer (“Toys’ Packaging can be a Real Pain”):

These days, children’s playthings don’t come nestled inside their containers -- they come grafted to them, immobilized by a torturer’s rack of wire, tape, thread and plastic lashing. […]

Today, dolls and action figures come bound like miniature Gullivers. It can take a parent 15 minutes or more to free them, and 15 minutes for every toy that follows.

Take Mattel’s My Scene Goes Hollywood Chelsea, a redhead dressed for a movie premiere. The doll and her two dozen accessories are held down by 20 pieces of tape, five wires, two lengths of stitching, three drops of glue, a couple of rubber clasps, a waist harness, assorted cardboard spacers and, not least, a plastic cord threaded through the back of Chelsea’s skull. (Which you know has got to hurt). [Hyperlink added.] […]

If a living, breathing child can be safely transported in a five-point restraint car seat, say peeved moms and dads, why does a doll need 20?

Answers: Long-distance shipping, shoplifting, and, naturally, marketing.

Here’s the real kicker from Grammage’s piece, surprising, and yet not:

[T]rying to open a toy is not just maddening but dangerous: More Americans are injured by packaging than are hurt in skateboard accidents -- 220,000 a year, according to government figures. People slice their hands on jagged plastic, pierce their fingers on wires, accidentally run themselves through with knives and screwdrivers.

Careful out there, people!

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Saturday, November 26, 2005  

SEASONAL GIVING
Pakistan and Juvenile Diabetes

Amid all the frenzied Christmas spending there have to be at least a few people out there looking to drop some money on a worthy charity as year-end approaches, whether to catch up on a slow year of donations, to fix the anticipated tax bill, or just to express some seasonal generosity.

The Rittenhouse Review always stands ready to accept hits on the tip box, a kindly gesture of generosity, and welcomes the “take” from your purchases at Amazon.com through the Rittenhouse link, but I’d rather see readers’ donated funds going to better causes, two of which are on my mind this season.

First, and most immediate: Relief aid to victims of the Pakistani earthquake. You can start here and find your favored conduit, hopefully as soon as possible.

Second, and always continuing: Organizations seeking a cure for juvenile diabetes, a cause so close to my heart. Please think about directing a few extra dollars this month to the Junvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

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BLOGGING IN PUBLIC
Keeping the Machine Safe

Now that I have this snazzy lap-top PC, I’ve been trying to determine the how’s and what’s, to say nothing of the etiquette, of using the machine in public, when today an entirely new set of issues emerged relating the safety and security of the whole endeavor. No, not the security of the insides of my lap top, I know a fair amount about that, but the safety of the machine itself.

Rittenhouse Square, for example, is a known “hot spot” in Philadelphia, with easy and free wireless access, and while it’s the dead-center heart of Center City’s best neighborhood, there’s a seedy element afoot that makes me reluctant to pull out the Presario and start working, surfing, or blogging.

My question, then, is, How often are lap-top computers stolen out of the hands of people using them in public? And how can I protect this investment? Will renter’s insurance cover such a loss?

Which raises another question entirely, one that’s been on my mind for years, namely, Why aren’t more pockets picked in public men’s rooms? We’re standing there, otherwise occupied and very vulnerable, and were our wallets swiped from our back pockets, how quickly could we react, taking all things into consideration?

Just wondering.

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